Could you introduce yourself to us?

Arew: Hello, my name is Vytautas also known as Arew. I'm 23 from Lithuania. I've started playing StarCraft:BroodWar since 2003. At the moment I'm a .NET developer and I play League of Legends from time to time.

Did you say League?

Arew: Hell yes!

I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that. How did you start playing BW?

Arew: Ha ha, no problem, do not want another meaningless discussion between these two games.
Actually it was because of my brother. He was playing it with friends and during that time I was more like a spectator and the game itself looked really fun. Once I got the opportunity to play I realized that I'm doing better than him. I was looking for BroodWar communities, browsing replays, reading interviews and stuff. After looking through all this stuff, I was sure that I want to play this game more seriously!

Neat. What made you pick Protoss?

Arew: At first sight I think it was because of probes. Terran needs to keep his SCVs busy while building, Zerg has to sacrifice a drone if they want to build something, whereas with Protoss you can just plant the building you want and go back to mine moar minerals!
Of course, I've tried all three races and after all I've decided to stay with protoss because it had a lot of different and unique strategies.

So it's because of cannon rushes.

Arew: To be honest, thats the way I got my first multiplayer victory.



You scumbag! Tell me more.

Arew: At first I didn't have an original CD Key to play on Euorpean server so I was playing on lithuanian one which did not require a key. I used to do a lot of cannon rushes against an AI while I didn't have an internet connection. Once I got into the server I joined a random game, I was up against another protoss. I scouted him first (luckily) and started building cannons in his base. It went really smooth. He had no idea what was going on until he saw 4 cannons built in a row attacking his mineral line and nexus, was a fast win. I was really proud of myself because it was my first multiplayer game and my opponent had more than 500 games played already!

Haha, I guess you picked the right race. Is there any Protoss player you really look up to?

Arew: Once I started to play on European server I looked up to the best players. I think it was Nal_rA, Reach and later on Bisu and Stork. Went straight to the korean scene! I still remember the feeling when I saw a Nal_rA FP VOD for the first time. I was like "man, how they do all these things so fast" and after watching it for more than 5 minutes my eyes started to hurt, haha.

It's definitely an impressive feat. Were you more interested in the Korean scene or the international scene?

Arew: Hm.. think I was more insterested in the Korean scene at first. I played my first 100 games in US West server while I did not log in to the European server at all, because I already had a mindset that Koreans are way better players. After I learned some things about the game I went to the European server and after playing some ladder on PGTour and iCCup I got invited to join MicroGamerZ. Still, my main practice area was US West even though I was in a European team.

What's been your best memory in Starcraft?

Arew: I think there were 2 best memories in my StarCraft career. The first one was the day when Mondragon invited me to join ToT. The second one was the moment when I won my last series' game and had qualified for the WCG Grand Finals in Cologne, 2008. The score was 1-1, so you could realise how tense it was for me. To join ToT and go to WCG were my biggest dreams as a gamer back then.

Describe for the people who weren't around back then what getting an invitation to ToT was like.

Arew: Well, everyone who plays competitively would want to be in the best current team, and back then ToT the most admired team you could join. It was something like waking up at 7am in the morning, knowing that you gotta go to work and suddenly realizing it's Saturday.

Interesting metaphor but we'll roll with it. Is there anyone in the tourney you'd really like to beat?

Arew: Yeah, of course. I'd say there are two type of players I'd like to play against. Good boys: Mondragon, ParanOid, SarenS. Bad boys: ClouD, ClouD, ClouD.

I believe you've just mentioned ClouD three times.

Arew: Oh really? Had to be four times, I'm sorry. Some old drama, do not need to talk about that.

Who do you think will win the BW Reunion Tournament?

Arew: If I'm allowed to mention myself, it's me then. With all my old secret replays of me practising against korean pros, I got a chance, you know! If I'm not allowed then it has to be Mondragon or Sen. Mondragon. Yes.

You're allowed to. Now, let's move on. What are you reading?

Arew: My favourite book would Sun Tzu's The Art of War, that for sure. I'd advice everyone who plays strategy game to read it. At the moment I'm reading Joseph Murphy "The power of your subconscious mind"

Do you think you can get into the subconscious of your opponents?

Arew: If I'll finish reading the book until the tournament, what is very likely, I'm pretty sure I can! That's another factor of me having a chance to win this tournament...

Very smart, preparing early. What would Sun Tzu recommend you do to prepare for your upcoming battle against the other players?

Arew: Think he'd recommend me not to battle drunk, keep practicing and get some sleep. Also believe in myself, of course.

Speaking of drunk, which player would you most like to get drunk with?

Arew: Hm.. ClouD I think, the best way to make friends with someone is to get drunk I guess, right? So we'd be friends until we kill each other.

Haha, alright, any words before we close it out?

Arew: At first I'd like to thank you for organizing this tournament, really great idea, looks like it is going to be an awesome weekend. Also, I'd like to thank everyone who supports me. See you in the fields of justice. Oh wait, wrong game, I meant the battlefield. Arew fighting~

Hello Hayder, could you introduce yourself to us?

HayprO: Hey, I'm HayprO. I am a retired sc2 progamer and I live in Sweden..

Mhm, but before that you played Starcraft: Brood War. When did you start playing?

HayprO: I started many years ago, 2003 to be exact. I did play before that but not more than a few games every now and then. I had some friends who already played it and they introduced me to it. Back then I used to play Age of Empires.

What attracted you to the game?

HayprO: At first it was because it was a fun game, but what kept me interested and wanting to keep playing was korean vods, especially the short first person views during games that was shown on OGN.

Interesting. What was the decision to pick Zerg? Was it motivated by certain Korean progamers?

HayprO: I think i picked zerg because it's the faster race. Also, YellOw was my favorite progamer at the time, but I was always more impressed by korean Terrans than anything else. They always seemed to play at such a high mechanical level.

Is that why you decided to play TvZ instead of ZvZ?

HayprO: ZvZ to me always felt like a luck-based matchup where the ability show your skill is limited. I made the switch to TvZ because of that, but also because I really liked Ret's TvZ back in the day. I was very impressed by how he could outmacro zergs.

That makes sense. You've had a few achievements in BW. What memory is your favourite?

HayprO: I think winning dreamhack 3 times is my biggest achievement in broodwar. also I remember when I joined ToT, that was insane . My favourite is probably the finals against Dreiven at Dreamhack Winter 2007. It was very intense. I had already played him in the winners bracket and lost 2-1 so I started 0-1 in a bo5 finals. For the first game of the finals, which was on the map gaia, we got close positions. For the people that remember, close positions are a nightmare for zergs, so I decided to do an early pool and use the drone drill and try to end the game fast. Thankfully it worked and I think that gave me the edge to continue on to win the finals.

How did you feel after winning the finals?

HayprO: Good question. It's been a while now but I remember that I was so happy that I couldnt stand for a while. I had to keep sitting down. Also, that same day was when Mondragon started talking to me about joining ToT.

That must've been an amazing day. Let's move on to your nickname, and I don't mean the official one. A lot of fans call you the Banjo. How did that come to be and what do you think of it?

HayprO: I gotta admit that 'till this day I'm not sure why people called me Banjo, but I do like it

I'm sure some people in the comments section will be able to enlighten us. Is there anyone in the tournament that you'd really like to beat?

HayprO: I'm sadly in no shape to beat anyone. I've been playing a few games on iccup and I'm having trouble in low ranks already. hopefully in the coming days I'll get good enough to beat them all

Gotta have confidence! A certain Swedish Random player you're well familiar with has alluded to potentially participating. What do you have to say to him?

HayprO: That would be great, TreK would have a really good shot at this tournament if he played. The skill level is obviously not the highest so his random together with the creative builds that he does would do wonders.

One more boring starcraft-related question: You went to Korea at the start of SC2. Could you describe how that was? Especially given how you looked up to the Koreans during the BW age.

HayprO: Korea is amazing, I enjoyed my time there very much. There were some big moments indeed. I met BoxeR, NaDa, YellOw, Garimto and many more big bw players that I was a big fan of. That was amazing.

I can only imagine. Now on to the interesting questions. Which player would you most like to have next to you during a long plane flight, and which one the least?

HayprO: The one I wouldn't wanna sit next to would be GoOdy, because if he starts telling a story it will never end just like his games. I'd like to sit next to Mondragon, because we havent talked much at all in the last 3-4 years so it would be great to catch up.

Understandable choices. What's your favourite food?

HayprO: I'm slowly becoming a vegetarian but any meal with chicken would be my favourite food.

Ooh, interesting. What made you decide to want to become a vegetarian?

HayprO: Almost everyone in my family is vegetarian, so whenever I eat at home there is no meat. I kinda stopped eating meat because of that.

I see. Do you have any favourite movies?

HayprO: Yes, Leon is my favourite movie. I think everyone knows it. It's a great movie about a professional hitman, and a young girl.
+ Show Spoiler +

Alright, thanks for the interview. Any last words before we close it out?

HayprO: I'm very excited for this tournament and I look forward to both playing and watching some interesting games.

Could you introduce yourself to us?

ClouD: Hi, I'm a 27 year old Italian midget with a big penis.

I heard you had to work hard for it. Can you tell us about that?

ClouD: You know, it takes dedication, just like any other big accomplishment in life. You have to deserve it. It comes down to hard training. The harder you train, the better. I thought it was a Starcraft interview though.

It is, but if you wanted to talk about your penis first that's fine too. How did you start playing Starcraft?

ClouD: I had an out of body experience when I was 10 and I could see into the future, where I saw myself playing Starcraft 2. It was such an horrible sight I became depressed and found that my only relief would be playing brood war as much as I could before the inevitable would occur.

Haha. So you started playing Starcraft right from the beginning?

ClouD: I did not have a decent connection at the time even though, as everybody knows, Italy has such mindblowingly advanced technology and internet speed. I started playing competitively after I had a brief wc3 experience. I raged so hard at being unable to outmicro other italian noobs that I quit the game and went for the a move race in Brood War.

When was this roughly?

ClouD: A long time ago.

A little less rough.

ClouD: Let's say, quite a few years.

Okay, forget it. What's the first achievement in BW that you were proud of?

ClouD: I'm really proud of every win against Ptak. He was the hardest opponent and the fact he was so well mannered even in defeat made me even more respectful.

Against such an accomplished player I imagine wins were rare.

ClouD: Definitely. On a side note, I was kinda happy with a few other things as well, like joining ToT, going to blizzcon and playing well against SaviOr and Xellos, and when I was invited to play in Korea (even though I decided to quit at the time and refused). But nothing compares to playing him.

I can only imagine. You've been very successful within Italy, winning every WCG between 2005 and 2009 and representing the country there. What's been your best memory in that?

ClouD: The best moment regarding wcg was when I lost to goody in seattle in 2007 in playoffs. Good times. I was kinda angry, then I looked at him and that made me happy again.

I'm not sure how to take that, but okay!

ClouD:

TT1 wondered if you still dare to sit next to him when he loses.

ClouD: When TT1 loses he starts cursing in Arab and it's really nasty. He also eats candy and chocolate all day and his presence alone makes you become fatter. I mean he looks like a teddybear but if you add these facts he's kinda toxic, just like the Britney Spears song which he incidentally loves to sing all the time. People from the middle east are weird.

You've visited Korea for a short stint during your Starcraft II career. How was that?

ClouD: The bulgogi burger at mcdonalds was incredible. I also got lost in the night with Socke and we ended up drunk with a 40 years old esports manager dressed as a white rapper in teenage discos. It was a really intimate moment.

Is Socke the Starcraft player you feel closest to?

ClouD: The bw people are my people. Starcraft II was a very dark moment of my life. Socke also played Protoss in SC2. I only feel hate and disgust. Plus, he has that hobo beard. If he had a cool mustache it would be fine with me, but he chose not to be cool.

Hold on hold on. Sen still plays Starcraft 2 as well. You can't tell me you feel hate and disgust for him too.

ClouD: It's alright, Sen doesn't have a hobo beard.

Oh, okay. Let's move on to the important questions. Which player in the lineup would you take along to a club if you wanted to score a girl?

ClouD: Nobody. Fucking nerds.

That's very sad. How about on a boat trip?

ClouD: GoOdy, I want to see him sunbathing shirtless.

You have.. interesting desires. Do you feel any other desires for other players?

ClouD: I feel my life would be complete with just that.

Noted. Do you have any favourite books you'd like to share with the world?

ClouD: Read my blogs on TL, they are better than any book out there.

Alright. What have you learned in your lifetime that everyone definitely needs to know?

ClouD: #yolo

Any last words before we close out the interview?

ClouD: